Behind that historic mural going up on Main Street

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Artist Zach Curtis, at a work in progress in the 700 block of Main Street in downtown Lafayette. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Things started coming more into focus by Friday morning on a mural project Detroit-based artist Zach Curtis is scheduled to paint in the coming week along Main Street in downtown Lafayette.

Curtis started roughing in a trio of portraits – a grouping of Frederick Douglass, John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent famous visits in the city’s history – on Wednesday as part of a project meant to mark this year’s Lafayette Bicentennial and next year’s 250th birthday of the United States.

“At first, I think people didn’t really know what was going on,” Curtis said Friday morning, as he got ready to work on the west wall of 707 Main St. The building, owned by Shane and Adrienne Albregts, is home to Rose + Wick, just east of TeraGraphics Ink print shop at Seventh and Main.

“Then I got the sketch up, and you get a little bit of heads turning,” he said. “But then (Thursday), once I actually started getting the details in the JFK up there, I started noticing déjà vu – like the same car turning the block, two or three times, people out with their cameras, people yelling at me from the road. It’s been all around positive feedback.”

The project is expected to be done in time for a dedication ceremony Wednesday, Oct. 22.

“As long as the weather holds out,” Curtis said. “So far, it’s been perfect.”

The project is sponsored by the General de Lafayette Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the city and Tippecanoe County.

Diana Vice, honorary regent of the local DAR chapter, said the project anticipating the organization’s America 250 celebrations started by focusing on historic Americans who visited Lafayette, opening with Douglass – “because we knew that African American history had been underrepresented in our community.” She said city and county participation allowed the project to expand to include Lincoln and Kennedy.